Freight-car door



L. W. MANHEIIVI.

FREIGHT CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION man AuG.24, 1920,

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Speciication of Letters Patent.

Fatented May 31., 1921.

Application med August 24, 1920. Serial No. 495,596.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known 'that l, LYNDoN W. MAN- HEIM, a citizen ci the United States, and a resident of Camden, in the county of Kershaw and State of South Carolina, have invented a new and Improved Freight-Car Door, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in freight cars and doors therefor, an object or" the invention being to provide a door .con struction for cars of this type which will greatly facilitate the loading and unloading of the carn A `further object is to provide side and end door constructions which will obviate the necessity of using draw boards to load or unload freight cars, as the doors themselves form inclined gang planks which permit ingress or egress from the cars.

Another object is to provide freight car doors which may be readily opened and closed. The slidin doors now in general use are very diiiicu t to operate, especially when the cars are loaded and jars and vi brations incident to moving of the car have caused the freight to jam against the sliding doors.

Still another object is to provide end and side doors hinged at their lower edge and adapted to swing outwardly and to provide improved means for controlling the position of the doors so that they may be used either for platforms or runways.

With these and other objects in view, thev invention consists in certain novel features and construction and combinations and arrangement of parts as will be more fully hereafter described and pointed out in the claims.

lin the accompanying drawings,

Figure l is a perspective view of the body of a freight car with my improved. doors and operating mechanism attached.

Fi 2 is a view in end elevation of the reig. t car body.

Referring in detail to the drawings, l rep resents the body of a box car of the usual type. The side doors 2 of the car are preferably made in three sections.l The lower half of the door comprises e section 3 hinged at its lower edge, as shown at d, and ada t- 1 ed to swing outwardly and downwar ly.l

IThe upper half of the door comprises a Aair of sections 5, 5, hinged at their side e 'ges and adapted to swing outwardly.

rihe car is also provided with one or more end doors supported at their lower edges by hinges 6 and adapted to swing outwardly and downwardly. The doors 6 themselves form the end walls of the car, and since these doors are necessarily heavy, l provide an improved means for operating the same. A description of one of the operating mechanisms will suilice for both, since both are identical. A shaft 7 is mounted transversely under the end of the car in bearing brackets 8. Rotary drums 9 are mounted on each end of the shaft 7 and kone of the drums is ixed to turn with a gear wheel l0. At each side of the car adjacent to the upper corners of the end doors, pulleys l1 are supported in. angle brackets l2. Flexible devices 13 secured adjacent the upper edges of the door as shown at 14 are passed over the pulleys ll and secured around the drums 9, A pinion 15 mounted on a short shaft 16 meshes with the gear wheel l0. Any suitable crank handle 17 may be used to turn the shaft. A pivoted locking dog 18 is employed to engage the pinion l5 and hold the door 16 in any desired osition oli adjustment. The door may be et all the way down to the ground, as shown in Fig. l., to form an inclined gangway for loading or unloading the car, or it may be lowered or located in a horizontal position to form platform; the position of the door, of course, depending upon the nature of the goods to he handled and the unloading ia cilities.

rlhe lower section of the side doors may be operated in any suitable manner and any type of locking device, such as that illustrated at 19, may be employed to fasten the upper sections of the side doors together.

While l have illustrated one of the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is obvious that various slight changes and illustrations might be made in the general form oi the parts described without depart ing from my invention, and hence ll do not limit myself to the precise details set `orth, hut consider myself at liberty to maire such slight changes and illustrations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of the ap pended claims.

l .claim 1. in a freight car.,y a door forming the end wall of the freight car and hinged at its lower edge to the door of the car, a shaft mounted transversely o the oar and below the same, winding drums on the ends of the shaft fixed to turn therewith, outwardly presented single brackets affixed to opposlte sides of the oar adjacent the upper end of the door, laterally extending studs on the upper end of the door, pulleys mounted. in the angle brackets, flexible devices having their .intermediate portions located over the pulleys and their ends operatively connected to the studs and the winding drums, and means for driving the shaft.

2. In a freight car, a door forming the end well of the freight car and hinged at its lower edge to the floor lof the car, a shaft mounted transversely of the car and below theusanie9 winding drums on the ends of the shaft fixed to turn therewith, outwardly presented :ingle brackets affixed to4 opposite sides of the car adjacent the upper end of the door, laterally extending studs on the upper end of the door, pulleys mounted in the angle brackets,` flexible devices having their intermediate portions located over the pulleys and their ends operatively connected to the studs and the winding drums, a, ear wheel fixed to turn with one of the win ing drums, a short shaft projecting laterally -rom the side'of the car, a pinion on the short shaft meshing with the gear wheel,'

and means for operating the last mentioned shaft.

LYNDON WHITE MANHEIM. 

